I’d been thinking about writing a piece looking at how Vacansoleil-DCM seem to have got the better of their Dutch rivals Rabobank. With Wout Poels winning the big stage in the Tour of Luxembourg, Thomas De Gendt in the Giro, Lieuwe Westra back in Paris-Nice and other results, it seemed as if Vacansoleil-DCM had the upper hand. But a check of the numbers shows the orange-clad team has an advantage over the happy campers.

Looking at the table more the standings are not that different from this time one month ago or even two months. Those who had a strong start to the season have continued to pick up more wins.

Does money buy wins?
Yes and no. Some of the large budget teams are languishing towards the bottom of the table. Astana, Radioshack-Nissan and BMC Racing are good examples of big spending. But it’s too early to judge any return on investment because in financial terms, airtime and column inches generated during the Tour de France are so very valuable.

I would be curious to know the breakdown of each rider’s contract value. Knowing this information, an analysis of salary vs victories and/or placings could be done to see who has been worth their contract so far this year.

I know there are more factors than just victories that require quantifying but it’s would be the first layer of the onion that could be peeled back.

Kris, it’s hard to answer that question in cycling as rider salaries are rarely disclosed.
I would suggest though that the two most overpaid riders of 2012 are Gilbert and Hushovd as the neither have won and the part of the season they target has passed.
The most underpaid have to be De Gendt, Westra and Ryder.

I often wondered how teams worked out the worth of riders when looking to bring in one from another squad. Within a team you can look at numbers and times in training, but I doubt that information is freely available to all teams. If a domestique gives his all for the team and rolls in with the last group, his placing will be low but his worth to the team might be high, and he might have great numbers, but no other team might know about it, and hence he might struggle to get a transfer to another team that he deserves…

While there was never any doubt that any team with Lance as a member would always have a pin point focus on Le Tour, do squads tend to be built for the whole season with its varying types of competitions, or do some focus on Spring Classics type races, etc?

Interesting also that Saxo Bank and RNT are run by Riis and Bruyneel respectively. As noted, without Contador and his WT points, Saxo Bank is struggling; it’s surprising because they have solid talent. Has Riis lost motivation as a manager without his star pupil?

And RadioShack is chalked full of talent, yet only Cancellara and Gallopin account for their 3 wins.
I maintain that morale is low with all of the internal turmoil being played out in the public media.
Bruyneel has been his usual vocal self about his misery with his team.

Off-topic but always thought-provoking to me are the well-known stats that go along with the Lance-Bruyneel era. Between 1999 and 2007, Bruyneel’s teams (USPS and Discovery Channel) won 8 of 9 TdF’s. Lance first retired after his 7th win in ’05, and Landis “won” with Phonak in ’06 (Oscar Pereiro by default). Contador won with Discovery Channel (Bruyneel) in ’07.

In 2008, Bruyneel took over embattled Astana and brought Contador and Leipheimer with him.
Riis won the ’08 TdF with Sastre (Astana was banned from the ’08 TdF), but JB and Contador won the Giro and the Vuelta that year (Leipheimer finished 2nd to AC in the Vuelta). In 2009, Armstrong returned from retirement and rejoined his pal Johan at Astana (AC and Levi still there).
Contador and Armstrong battled it out for GC status and AC won the ’09 TdF, with Andy Schleck (Saxo) ahhh, oh yeah, 2nd, and old man Armstrong 3rd.

2010 – present, JB runs RadioShack with pal LA and the Livestrong Foundation all still attached with an umbilical cord. Riis and Contador “win” the 2010 TdF with Spanish steak fueling AC. Andy Schleck, who perpetually finishes 2nd was given the maillot jaune by default.

And in 2011, thank God Cadel Evans won the TdF! A rider not named LA or AC and not attached to any doping scandal or even talk of doping:) Someday, someone should make a movie about those “dopey” years: 1999 – 2010.

As always quality of wins has a big say in team success.
Astana are 15th according to wins but 5th according to UCI points in what I would call an excellent year this year including Liege, Amstel, and 2 giro stage wins so far.

In a way it doesn’t matter. You watch each race and enjoy the battles during the event. Any tables, charts and other comparisons aren’t the same. There’s an instinctive element, you can spot a strong team even if the data doesn’t always say so.